TIFF’s First Weekend, NYTimes on the Fall Season

Posted by Zachary Mandinach on 9.10.2012

Welcome to FilmLinc Digest, our new series of regular round-ups from the film and festival world. We know you love cinema, and keeping up with news about it just got a little easier!

First Weekend at TIFF: David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook and Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond the Pines
After opening last week, it was a busy first weekend at the the Toronto International Film Festival with anticipated screenings of Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, fresh off its success at Venice, and David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook, which captured the hearts of critics and audiences alike. Writing for The Playlist at Indiewire, Kevin Jagernauth called the film "an enormously entertaining, crowd-pleasing winner."

With almost 300 films screening at TIFF, there's much waiting to be picked up for distrubtion. One of the biggest landings occurred this weekend when the Ryan Gosling-starring film The Place Beyond the Pinespremiered to rave reviews and was quickly snatched up by Focus Features. Directed by Derek Cianfrance, who won over many with Blue Valentine just a few years ago, the film received strong praise from Focus CEO James Schamus and President Andrew Karpen. In a joint statement, the two said: "Derek Cianfrance has made a bold, epic, and emotionally generous saga, once again showing a master’s hand in eliciting searingly beautiful performances from the actors with whom he collaborates."

The Telluride Indie Cinema Master Class
Speaking of James Schamus, over at IndieWire Bryce J. Renninger summed up the "Ten Things Learned from the Telluride Indie Cinema Master Class," which included Schamus, Frances Haco-writer/star Greta Gerwig, Hyde Park on Hudsonco-star Laura Linney, legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman, and Alessandro Nivola, co-star of Ginger and Rosa. Perhaps most intriguing was Schamus' assesment of independent film's key demographic, as seen by the audience of a Film Society neighbor: "When I go to matinees at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, one of the great independent theaters in New York, I'm everyone's grandson."

Kylie Minogue in Leos Carax's Holy Motors

Fall Arts Preview
As part of their preview of the coming months' offerings in the arts, The New York Times profiled several filmmakers and actors including Ang Lee, director of NYFF Opening Night Film Life of Pi; Nicole Kidman, co-star of The Paperboy and NYFF Gala Honoree; and Denzel Washington, star of this year's Closing Night film, Robert Zemeckis' Flight.

Along with this, film critic Dennis Lim detailed his five "Illuminating Performances" of the fall movie season including Matthias Schoenarts's turn in Rust and Bone and pop-star Kylie Minogue's performance in Leos Carax's Holy Motors. On the latter, Lim wrote, "On paper it seems like the oddest of pairings... But there is a logic—maybe even a stroke of genius—to this unlikely setup."

Ben and Joshua Safdie's The Black Balloon

La Di Da Film Festival, September 14 & 15
For any fans of American independent film, be sure to make your way down to the 92YTribeca for the inaugural La Di Da Film Festival, self-described as "the DIY-punk-rock house party of film festivals." Founded by film critic/programmer Miriam Bale, the two-day festival offers the latest works from noteworthy talents such as the Safdie brothers, whose short film The Black Balloon won top prizes at Sundance and SXSW and screens this Friday at La Di Da.

Francine Finds a Digital Home at Factory 25, Opens at MoMA This Week
Great news! Our Indie Night selection for last month, Francine, has been picked up by noted independent film distrubtor Factory 25, which, along with The Film Sales Company, will release the film on VOD on November 1. Before then, the Melissa Leo-starring film will screen at the Museum of Modern Art for one week only starting this Wednesday, and will expand throughout the country in the coming months.

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